Crimes
Against Children

Innocence Lost National Initiative

The Innocence Lost
National Initiative, which addresses domestic trafficking of children for
purposes of prostitution, has been expanded to 31 cities with an identified
child prostitution crime problem.

Twenty-three task forces or working groups have been established with state and local law enforcement to combat this crime problem, with strong support provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

There
have been 268 investigations (child exploitation or child trafficking cases)
initiated, which resulted in 697 arrests, 145 indictments, and 135 convictions.
Prosecution at the federal level has resulted in the dismantling of 20 criminal
organizations engaged in child prostitution.

Finding Abducted Children

The FBI created eight regional Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Teams in October 2005. CARD Teams rapidly deploy experienced Crimes Against Children investigators to provide investigative, technical, and resource assistance to state and local law enforcement during the most critical time period following a child abduction. Fourteen deployments have occurred since April 2006, resulting in state charges against the subjects in eight cases. (Three cases are pending, one case was considered an accident, and two cases the children were safely recovered.)

An FBI supervisory special agent is assigned full-time at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to coordinate resources and facilitate the most effective FBI response to child abductions.

The FBI developed and acquired the Registered Sex Offender Locator Tool, a technology-enabled
solution to integrate several data and analytical capabilities into one system
which will provide immediate, critical investigative lead information during
the critical hours immediately after a child abduction. The solution enables
the FBI to identify sex offenders who have or had a presence within the vicinity
of a child abduction and to identify key locations to where an abducted child
may be taken.

Protecting Children on the Internet

The Innocent Images National Initiative combats the worldwide proliferation of child pornography and child sexual exploitation facilitated by the Internet; the Innocent Images International Task Force (IIITF) established in October 2004 to target east central European websites has generated nearly 3,000 leads.

The Endangered Child Alert Program, launched in February 2004, uses national and international media exposure of unknown adults featured in child pornography; 37 children have been identified and saved and 12 subjects have been identified (8 are in custody).

In November 2003,
the FBI launched Operation “Peer Pressure” targeting persons who use Peer-to-Peer
(P2P) networks to collect and distribute child pornography; we conducted
166 online sessions in which undercover FBI agents downloaded child pornography
from offender’s computers. Results include: 360 search warrants, 91 indictments,
88 arrests, and 55 convictions. Many subjects with prior criminal histories
have been identified (including 10 registered sex offenders); more than 20
persons under the age of 21 have been identified as engaging in these activities.
These cases have charged not only offenses related to the possession and
distribution of child pornography, but also to the sexual abuse of children.

In 2003, the FBI began a nationwide initiative to investigate child sexual abuse in eGroups; over 180 searches were executed, 162 subjects were indicted, and 89 subjects were arrested, with more than 100 convictions.